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Thursday, August 24, 2017

Pontianak: A Travel Diary

こんにちは~ It's been exactly 4 months since I went to Pontianak, omg time flies. Pontianak is my hometown, it's a capital city of West Kalimantan, Indonesia. I went there 2 weeks after I came back from Japan, with my still-there purple hair. And being a purple head in a such small city? People stare.

I basically went there to "go home", went to see my grandparents (I live with them until I graduated high school), uncles, aunts. Didn't meet any of my friends tho 💔. I just went back for 2 or 3 days...? It's long weekend; I went there Friday night and back to Jakarta on Monday. Family (pigging out) time it is. Let's get this Pontianak Travel Diary started!

It was Sunday so obviously school is empty, lol. I decided to enter after having ice cream in front of the school (wait for it on the next post!). Nothing much changed, but there is renovation going on in front of the high school building. I did miss the canteen food but it's Sunday anyway :( I took this pic with school gate + teacher office on the background. "Tetap Bersemangat" is my school's motto, means "Keep the Spirit". Is it? Hahaha I don't know the exact saying in English tho.

Taman Alun Kapuas is a park along the Kapuas River, as one of Pontianak's "Waterfront City" project. It's a great place to hang out at evening, there are a lot of street food stalls and you can also buy the food from the ones selling on the boat. Don't litter on the river, please ;)

We can also ride the boat for affordable price (I didn't ask how much tho). I've tried it once, it will bring you along the river, which you can see "Meriam Karbit" (carbide cannon) and Kapuas Bridge. Give it a try if you're visiting Pontianak for the first time.

Taman Alun Kapuas is much more better when I went there. There is this greenery park inside which I loveee so much! It gives you a cool breeze in a freakin' hot weather in Pontianak. And a great spot to take photos for Instagram and blog ;p

My primary school is located across the Cathedral. Actually we can enter the Cathedral but I was running out of time because I need to go to the airport after that, so yeah just took some photos with my cousins because the mural is so cute and well-drawn.

Pasar Tengah was a traditional market but now is swifting into modern market, I think it's because of the huge fire 2 years ago (it was the day I arrived at Pontianak, fyi). I won't talk about the market actually, it's like the typical market out there. One thing I love about this market is that I can find a lot of thrifted clothes here, with extremely cheap price! So much win~ Remember this army green outer in this post? I got it here for IDR 20.000 ($1.50)!

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If you're looking for travel-worthy city, I can't really recommend it for you. But if you're a food lover, Pontianak is the right city, dreamers! It will be too long to cover in one post, so I will write a separate post about culinary/food in Pontianak. Please stay tuned! Jaa ne~